It's been six years since Emma's Robodebt notice. She says the word still sparks a 'visceral' reaction

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A royal commission into Robodebt has been confirmed. While there's hope justice could be around the corner, scars remain for many.

abc.net.au/news/robodebt-royal-commission-scars-linger/101375170It's been nearly six years, but Emma Warren still vividly remembers the moment she was told she owed the government $8,000.Some $750 million was wrongly recovered from 381,000 Australians"I felt like I couldn't breathe," she said.

The Newcastle resident was a researcher and tutor at the University of Newcastle until 2015, when she became too unwell to continue working. "I really worry that there will always be an air of suspicion around people like myself that had these debts raised against them," she said.The Robodebt system was created when an existing process comparing Centrelink recipients' reported income to their tax record was automated, enabling quicker identification of when they'd been overpaid.Chief among them, the automated system could not pick up on nuance as well as the previous person-led approach.

Ms Warren was never told explicitly how her debt was calculated, but believes the algorithms incorrectly counted a PhD scholarship as taxable income. Scholarship payments are generally exempt from income tax. "Because there weren't actually humans involved in checking and looking further, mistakes … weren't picked up," she said.Ms Warren said her debt notice didn't include many specifics, essentially only that she owed money and had to pay it back.

While Ms Warren has regained the money she was told she had to pay back to Centrelink, she, like many other victims, is still waiting on compensation.The Robodebt pain for Nicole Hibberd-Smith has also been long-lasting.In 2015, Ms Hibberd-Smith's husband died suddenly of a heart attack, leaving her and their three young kids behind.

 

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This is what a witch hunt looks like auspol

Starts here

How many rob debt letters ended up killing people? But no RC into 800+ Victorian HQ Deaths? Seems legit if you vote ALP?

Exactly none of the examples appearing here DIDN’T have a debt

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Robodebt royal commission established to investigate almost $2 billion in unlawful debt claimsThe government establishes a promised robodebt royal commission to investigate the former government's illegal debt collection scheme that wrongly attempted to claim almost $2 billion from Centrelink recipients. Good! Time hold those accountable Carful what you wish for, Honest Albo hypocrite Yet another grubby Scott Morrison abomination 😠
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PM unleashes on former government as he defends Robodebt royal commissionPrime Minister Anthony Albanese has hit back at suggestions a royal commission into the failed Robodebt scheme is a waste of money and pointed to the human cost the failed scheme had inflicted on hundreds of thousands of Australians. Does he do anything but “unleash on former government” Sky News Protection Racket about to get into full gear. if you think holding to account the people who sent out debts to people like myself and let them get away with it I suggest you leave australia...
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Explained: A Robodebt royal commission has been announced. What can we expect next?Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a formal investigation into the Morrison government's Robodebt 'fiasco' which claimed almost $2 billion from more than 400,000 Australians. 9News FULL STORY: We will have justice! Idiot The Morrison government? Didn't the AustralianLabor led Senate Inquiry do their job properly? Wasn't the class action settled? How will this help stem rising costs and interest rates and no wage increase? Yet again your government ignoring what is important to Australians
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Explained: A Robodebt royal commission has been announced. What can we expect next?Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a formal investigation into the Morrison government's Robodebt 'fiasco' which claimed almost $2 billion from more than 400,000 Australians. 9News FULL STORY: Bill Labor started robodebt, so they are not blameless in all this. Time for labor to get off this Scott Morrison witch hunt and take part of the blame for this. Why do we keep giving this political failure air time? I thought Bill Shorten originally started Robodebt .You told us on the news it was Malcolm Turnbull.
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Explained: A Robodebt royal commission has been announced. What can we expect next?The Robodebt scandal led to a $1.8 billion class action settlement between victims and the federal government. 9News Good more debt more mess. Maybe we should let the enemy in for a quick swipe and see how boomerang weapon holds up. All people who were complicit in destroying so many lives and causing countless suicides should get life in prison. No more protecting politicians or unelected government employees.
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'A human tragedy with real consequences': Anthony Albanese unveils robodebt royal commission detailsFelicity de Somerville had $11,500 withdrawn from her bank account as part of the Coalition’s robodebt scheme, and says she’ll 'never trust Centrelink again'. Now, the government has announced a royal commission. Read more here: Thats a lot in overpayments. Maybe she should have voluntarily paid it back earlier. Missing from all these stories will be the important fact that these people were overpaid massive amounts of money, mostly due to their non disclosure of income Don't ruin a good story with facts SBS. ROBODEBT: The system was first put together by the then Labor leadership team of Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek to be imposed by Centrelink 👇👇👇👇
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